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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Jamie T at The Metro, Sydney

JAMIE TERNEST ELLISThe Metro16/09/09

Local fellow Ernest Ellis and his band offered grand folk-rock that clearly had American influences. His songs were sweeping and generally fairly classically structured, but aside from a vocal range that included an impressive falsetto there was nothing especially attention-grabbing about this warm-up set.

With a hood pulled over a baseball cap, Jamie T - Jamie Treays if we’re being formal - ambled onstage looking like the kind of dodgy youth you see stalking the streets of the less salubrious parts of London. However, Treays is no shady character but rather a chirpy troubadour and was soon ripping through a fun version of Brand New Bass Guitar. The high energy of this raw opener continued for the rest of the night, as Treays and his band, The Pacemakers, belted out a hectic mixture of hip-hop and punk. Between songs Treays chatted in his very English style, dedicating Earth, Wind & Fire to his Dad for being “a double-hard bastard,” and telling the crowd to “stop being pansies and start fucking dancing,” before newie Chaka Demus showed his newfound pop sensibilities.

Sans band, he led the all-ages crowd through a cacophonous version of Back In The Game as the singalongs got progressively louder. If You Got The Money almost ripped the roof off and every word of Sheila was roared back at the stage. By the evening’s finale, Sticks ‘n’ Stones, the crowd was going absolutely mental.

Surprisingly though, the set’s highlight was Emily’s Heart, an incongruously delicate opening to the encore. It’s a shame that large sections of the audience, who were clearly there to hear the singles and nothing else, were too busy talking really fucking loudly to notice the sheer beauty of this tiny acoustic song. Still, the main throng held lighters aloft and appreciated it for the heartbreakingly tender and sorrowful love song that it was. Ending by bursting into an epic crescendo of noise, with Treays screaming “This is what happens when you fuck around,” it showed a new, deeper dimension to the songwriter. On top of the urban punk thing that he does so well, tonight Jamie T proved he also has a knack for pop gems and gentle acoustic ballads. We wait with excitement to see which direction he goes in next.